Mathilda-Southern Breeze -Khalidia

Dear Bram,

Is that the newspaper article about the fire engines that had to pump her out in Monaco ? I read it in the Nice Matin all those years ago.

Also did you read the newspaper articles Don Christy wrote about his trials and tribulations on board in Bulgaria ?

Fascinating photos of the engine change. I have a small anecdote about the Mercedes engines. I saw Claus Kusch a few years before he passed away and he told me that one of his first business deals was to get those engines and resell them which he did successfully. At least he had fond memories of those engines even if noone else had !!!!!

I also note from the photo of the main engine coming out that the layout of the tenders had already been changed as I can see the big forward davit top right of the engine and the davit motor bottom of picture.
She originally had a small clinker built dinghy with manually operated davits in that position with her main tender (originally a Chris Craft Continental but rapidly changed to a Riva Super Floride which was subsequently sold in Bulgaria) placed further aft.
The Chris Craft was too big and heavy for her. When launching it, she would list so heavily that the galley always had to be warned.
One of the reasons for this is that her hydrodynamics were designed by Pierre Kervarec who specialised in warship design, hence her very fine hull and shallow draft. She actually achieved well over 15 knots during seatrials.

These stories provide totally useless information but they bring back very fond memories certainly to me.

Great photos thks.

Kind regards
Bee

Hi Bram and friends,

This could be good news for Khalidia aficionados. I also wish Captain Clewes every success for her rebuild.

I have come across some photos of her original sea trials in the Severn Channel showing her beautiful lines before being in my opinion, gradually massacred by various owners. I have had these photos scanned and emailed to me but I am having trouble in sending these photos to yacht forums. Can anyone patiently guide me as how to do this ??

Kind regards

Bee

Hi Bram,

That is very kind of you. Thks for your help.

Bee

Bram,

Did you get sent that article by the author or did you just copy and paste it off the other website where it is posted in full?

Hot Linking- Having your images hosted on other serves like image shack will lead to the disappearance of your pictures as it contravenes the Forum rules as does posting copyrighted items without copyright owners permission unless you are the copyright holder.

Khalidia ex ArianeIII

Dear Bram and Kiwi,

Being a newcomer to YachtForums, I would not like to rock the boat but I am certain that Captain Clewes, the author of this article would be delighted that it was read by the members.

This article has most probably been sent to numerous recipients for the purpose of publicity and it would, in my mind, be inconceivable that there could be any copywright infringement in posting it on this forum.

Kind regards

Bee

It would be an easy matter to write to Captain Clews to find his opinion on the matter. Indeed, he might be intrigued to know there is so much interest in his boat and project, as well as such a wealth of knowledge in the boat's history.

So why speculate instead of inquiring directly?

Hi,

It was the sight of:

Copyright © 2007 / 2008, ***************.com. All Rights Reserved.

that made me ask the question.

Hi Bram,

Did you get my email with photos and my comments re Ariane III - Khalidia ??

I sent it on saturday 22nd.

regards
Bee

Arianne, Tracinda Jean, Khalidia, Southern Breeze

Well Hi to Bram, xdub, K1W1 and all you other guys.
My name is Terry and I started off on Tracinda Jean in 71 as deckhand, later second eng, under our Bram, I went on a course with Bram to Marseille for the Baudoin engines, which were also used as generators too. I worked with xdub on Southern Breeze too (originally as 2nd eng in 1974 but later Chief under Capt Peden in 1978 with xdub as Mate) Between that, I was Chief Eng on LAC 11 built in Aalsmeer by De Vries Scheepsbou. Sorry about the spelling Bram, best I can do.
I ended my days on Monkey Business as Captain back in 1980 and got sent home by Uncle Sam as not wanted on voyage...
Great listening to all of you retelling your memories and showing us all the photos of those beautiful ships. I miss them terribly, and the good times that went with them. Keep up the chat guys, I'll try to find some photos and post 'em when I can remember. Love the life, live the people...

Return to Florida after 29 years

Hi Bill, it's Terry, staying with xdub for a week in Florida. I admit, I was wrong mentioning 'terrifying' in context with your engineering skills! It wasn't your engineering skills, just the drinking! Lekker dronken, neit betaallen! We all missed you when you left and thought you did a grand job with Khalidia. I went on to Chief when you left, then Heinz John joined and we went across the pond to the Caribbean. He then left at Tracor Mas and I got the Chiefs job back again. I left the ship in the autumn of 73 then got onto the Southern Breeze as 2nd Eng, left that after 12 months to go to Holland and build LAC11with Cap Havers and got a crew together to sail the Med and then back across the pond to the Caribbean and East Coast. That's about it for now, so I'll update you when I return to England. Bye for now.

Alan Pepper

Regarding Arianne III, I worked at the Atlantic Shipbuilding Company in Newport, South Wales, UK where the ship was designed and built.

I was a ship's draftsman and made many of the construction drawings for the ship. She was designed in outline by Mr Pierre Kervarec of Paris but he or his team did not visit the shipyard as far as I can recall.

Mr Pandelis lived in London and Paris and visited the shipyard weekly thoughout the detailed design period and would spend time with each of the draftsmen, adding his thoughts and requirements and I think he enjoyed the experience very much.

I was also part of the team that attended the trials in the Bristol Channel. The ship was fitted with Saunders Roe stabilisers, miniature versions of those fitted to the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. To test the stabilisers, the system was put into reverse operation in still waters and the degree of heal, time to heal and the ship's speed were all measured and the tests were very successful - I mention this because the effects of reversing the stabilisers was quite dramatic, if not scary, and beyond our usual experience of building and testing cargo ships.

Before completion, the hull was rendered with a special form of plaster to give a fine finish to the steel hull. I also remember the installion of permanent ballast weights to achieve the necessary stability after the fitting-out had been completed.

The ship was very special to us shipyard staff - it required different skills to those used in the construction of the cargo ships we were used to and we were all very proud when it was completed.

Apart from the odd newspaper article about John Bloom buying her I lost touch with Arianne III until recently discovering through the internet that she was in Portugal awaiting refit. I give thanks to all the contributors above who have provided such an interesting and detailed account of her history - I look forward to hearing more in the future.

Khalidia et al.

Thanks Bill, when I get home, I'll keep in touch on those fotos. The guy on my right in the first foto is Jimi Boutrif and the guy outside next to you is a big Canook who had his younger cousin on board (both names escape me but his cousin was called Rob, I think). 2nd foto on your left is an English guy called John Williams who went on to Australia, and after that I lost contact. Margie Havers in the middle and the guy far right is Martin Reese-Jones, a decky at the time but now lives in Tourette-sur-Loup, near Cannes and is sort of semi famous, paints pictures and the like. I met him about 5 years ago and he's cool, yeah, really cool.

Keep 'em coming in Bill!..

Hi boys and girls, after much searching, I found Khalidia! She's in the Portuguese yard as mentioned earlier by Alan Pepper, owned by the Premier Shipbuilding Company and is undergoing a complete refit. No news on when she'll be finished or when she went in but Ill try and glean some info from PSC.
Terry